Pardew's point is not enough

Alan Pardew got his first point last night against Fulham but according to reports on the balance of play if not by the means by which they equalised, Fulham deserved a draw. The task for Charlton looks even more daunting with that result. The effective manager swap by Charlton and West Ham has overtones of the last similar occasion this happened. Then Crystal Palace were storming the First Division, now called the Championship with Steve Bruce as manager. Birmingham City, having been taken to the play-offs four times in a row by Trevor Francis but not progressing from any of them, decided it was time to ditch Francis and appeal to Bruce to take over. Despite chairman Simon Jordan's fury, putting Bruce on now infamous 'gardening leave', the contretemps was resolved when Francis replaced Bruce at Crystal Palace, Bruce being bought out by Birmingham. It was an inequitable deal. Steve Bruce, managerial climber that he is and now at a bigger club (and fourth one in four years at the time) took the Brummies to the play-offs and through them, to the Premiership. Trevor Francis left Palace floundering in the second tier until a certain Iain Dowie came along. Fast forward to the start of 2007 and leave out the impropriety and the situation is that Curbishley can probably keep West Ham up, but Pardew and Charlton will be joining Crystal Palace in the Championship. It's not a foregone conclusion, but for the Addicks part of the formula, it's the most likely one.